The Whiffle Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model resolves atmospheric flow from country-scale weather patterns down to street-level detail, directly from the laws of physics.

It captures the full complexity of wind behaviour around local terrain, buildings, and, for instance, wind turbines. Coupled to large-scale weather data and powered by GPUs, the LES delivers fast, high-fidelity insights for simulating extreme weather phenomena consistently across scales, from synoptic-scale storms to localized gusts and turbulence. It is also very well suited for modeling fine-scale dispersion of pollutants through complex, obstacle-laden environments.

As will be discussed in this session, the model has been validated extensively against wind measurements for a wide range of terrain complexities. By means of case studies the capabilities of the model to simulate extreme weather and the dispersion of gases in an urban environment will be illustrated.

The combination of multiscale fidelity and operational speed positions the model as a powerful tool for wind resource assessment, urban air quality studies, and high-resolution weather forecasting.